RISHI Sunak today unveiled a bumper package to help hard-up Brits with the soaring cost of living.
The Chancellor announced £10billion worth of relief, including an energy bill discount, to ease the pressure on household finances.
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Speaking in the House of Commons this afternoon, Mr Sunak revealed families across the country can expect money off their sky-rocketing bills, which are set to rise to £2,800 a year from October, funded by a windfall tax on oil and gas firms.
The much-needed cash will be an increase to the £200 saving unveiled earlier in the year, to be paid back in chunks over five years.
And it will take the form of a grant, not a loan, and therefore not need to be repaid, it is understood.
Ministers have spent months criticising the idea of a windfall tax because of its potential impact on investment.
But in a major U-turn today, Mr Sunak slapped a levy on the profits of fossil fuel giants Shell and BP which have benefited from high global prices.
He did, however, say it would include a “new investment allowance” to incentivise the reinvestment of profits.
Elsewhere in Mr Sunak’s multi-billion pound plans to draw a line under Partygate and focus on the squeeze in living standards caused by inflation, he said he will assist Britain’s poorest households.
This includes those on means-tested benefits, who will receive two lump-sum payments worth £650 in July and the autumn at a cost of more than £5bn to the treasury.
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More than eight million households, including those on Universal Credit, pensions credit, housing benefit, jobseekers’ allowance and income support, will be eligible.
And that is on top of a the energy bill discount for every household, expected to be £400, regardless of income.
In addition, more than eight million pensioner households will receive an extra one-off payment of £300.
Mr Sunak told MPs: “We need to make sure that for those whom the struggle is too hard and for whom the risks are too great they are supported.
“This Government will not sit idly by while there is a risk that some in our country might be set so far back they might never recover.
“This is simply unacceptable and we will never allow that to happen.
“And I want to reassure everybody that we will get through this, we have the tools and the determination we need to combat and reduce inflation, we will make sure the most vulnerable and least well-off get the support they need at this time of difficulty, and we will turn this moment of difficulty into a springboard for economic renewal and growth.”
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Britain’s annual inflation rate has surged to a 40-year high on rocketing energy costs, squeezing household budgets and leaving many struggling to make ends meet.
Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, hit nine per cent in April, up from from seven per cent in March.
This, coupled with the conflict in Ukraine and the pandemic, has pushed energy and food prices up and forced banks to ramp up interest rates.
Boris Johnson said the hundreds of billions poured in to dealing with Covid had left a “very difficult fiscal position”.
At a Downing Street press conference, the Prime Minister acknowledged households “are going to see pressures for a while to come”.
But he said: “We will continue to respond, just as we responded throughout the pandemic.
“It won’t be easy, we won’t be able to fix everything.
“But what I would also say is we will get through it and we will get through it well.”
The need for extra help was also illustrated by Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley’s indication that the energy price cap will increase by a further £830 to £2,800 in October.
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